NewsParler, John Matze
Feb 03, 2021 11:48 PM EST
Parler has decided to remove its CEO, John Matze. This decision was stated in a memo that Matze himself sent out to staff.
Based on the memo that Fox News was able to obtain, Matze said he was terminated and that the decision was made without his participation.
"On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision," Matze wrote on the memo. "I understand that those who now control the company have made some communications to employees and other third parties that have unfortunately created confusion and prompted me to make this public statement."
Matze also shared that for the past few months, his vision for the social media platform was constantly not well-accepted.
In fact, he can feel a sense of "constant resistance" to what he wants to do do, following Amazon Web Services' decision to shut Parler down.
Amazon's decision was in assoociation with Parler's failure to regulate or moderate the egregious content it had published related to the January 6 Capitol riot. Matze does not believe in moderating content.
"Over the past few months, I've met constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler site should be managed. For example, I advocated for more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to content moderation," Matze wrote.
Matze said he has done everything for Parler already, but what he did seems not to be enough.
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He ended his memo in a good note, thanking the employees who he described as having became his family already.
"I want to thank the Parler employees, the people on Parler and Parler supporters for their tireless work and devotion to the company. They are an amazing group of diverse, hardworking and talented individuals and I have the utmost respect for them. Many of them have become my second family."
It can be recalled that Parler, a social media app, has become quite controversial because unlike other apps, it embraces Trump's supporters without qualms.
It is an app largely embraced by Trump supporters and an app that alleges it supports free speech. Its users increased exorbitantly after Twitter's permanent suspension of President Trump.
Since Amazon Web Services cut it off, Parler has remained shut down. There were expectations for it to return before February of this year, but this did not happen.
A Parler insider told Fox News the delay is being caused by the company's pursuance of new branding and some internal changes that would make the company so much more stable. Matze said now that after taking a week off to recuperate from his being removed, he will be looking for new ventures where he can feel more "respected."
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